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| author | Damjan Cvetko <damjan.cvetko@gmail.com> | 2022-03-15 02:39:26 +0300 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | GitHub <noreply@github.com> | 2022-03-15 02:39:26 +0300 |
| commit | c649573a2ab4866426d629088c6d5c989eaf8fd8 (patch) | |
| tree | 45a41e0992fc718fbc3fcb866e22db018d99d713 /doc/api/child_process.md | |
| parent | 64f542fb83424162a30b3c563009689c84d91737 (diff) | |
doc: clarify path search in `child_process.spawn`
The documentation about command lookup could be more clear and note
differences between Windows and Linux/OSX.
Current text gives the impression that if one passes `options.env`
without `PATH`, the path search will fall back on `process.env.PATH`.
In reality, passing environment without `PATH` to `execvp` causes it
to look for the binary only in `/usr/bin:/bin`.
Also Windows behaves different and more in line with the current
documentation text.
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/41418
Reviewed-By: Richard Lau <rlau@redhat.com>
Reviewed-By: James M Snell <jasnell@gmail.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/api/child_process.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/api/child_process.md | 7 |
1 files changed, 5 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/doc/api/child_process.md b/doc/api/child_process.md index de988c25b07..ad712eb8786 100644 --- a/doc/api/child_process.md +++ b/doc/api/child_process.md @@ -36,8 +36,11 @@ identical to the behavior of pipes in the shell. Use the `{ stdio: 'ignore' }` option if the output will not be consumed. The command lookup is performed using the `options.env.PATH` environment -variable if it is in the `options` object. Otherwise, `process.env.PATH` is -used. +variable if `env` is in the `options` object. Otherwise, `process.env.PATH` is +used. If `options.env` is set without `PATH`, lookup on Unix is performed +on a default search path search of `/usr/bin:/bin` (see your operating system's +manual for execvpe/execvp), on Windows the current processes environment +variable `PATH` is used. On Windows, environment variables are case-insensitive. Node.js lexicographically sorts the `env` keys and uses the first one that |